As commercial businesses, the military and government civil service organizations evolve to meet the demands of the new economy, a new breed of manager is emerging, and most organizations, you will find two groups of managers – those that are in the 45+ age group, and the “new managers” that are in their 20s and 30s.

Fundamentally different in terms of their education, skill level and background in the industry, the 45+ managers are technically trained managers with tradesman background, brought up in the industry from trainee through journeyman into leadsman and manager, and the “new manager” is a knowledge-based employee, possessing a college education and a degree in management. Despite their diversity, neither group can be successful without a clear understanding of the “Configuration Management”.

The “New Manager” job description requires a subject matter specialist approach, with broad- based knowledge of contract requirements and support information. Much of this knowledge has not been passed down as managers move on or retire, and therefore has become “lost tribal wisdom.”

“Lost tribal wisdom” occurs when a company looks for the latest and greatest in technology, software, and hardware to solve all of its problems and becomes engrossed in the “new- newer-newest” syndrome. At this point, the cost of the technology is the loss of knowledge and wisdom that can only be captured by people.

I believe that only about 10 percent of today’s industries can fully automate, while 60 percent see it as the carrot of fast profits. Most of the time they believe it is a long-term investment. Unfortunately, considerations for downtime, maintenance and breakdowns, set-up time, and a lack of configuration management can eat up profits. Wisdom is the best business defense, and the first requirement for understanding the design and manufacturing process.

New management enterprise is based on understanding configuration management. However, what is configuration management? Who is the configuration manager?

The sole purpose of Configuration Management (CM) is to insure that a product maintains the same design, materials, composition, or processing as was originally intended, from delivery through its entire lifecycle.

If modifications are needed to meet evolving technology requirements, or are necessary to the application of the product or service, the Configuration Manager must ensure that the changes are integrated with existing systems, and updated on the original drawings and technical documents. This also relates to assigning liability to the user, manufacturer, designer or concept visionary in the case of disaster or mishap.

Configuration Management is based on the control of Configuration Items (CI) , and CI’s are the key to configuration management. If a change is made to the form, fit or function of a CI, the safety of the product will be breached.

Lean Quality Systems, Inc. helps companies adjust to the changing business climate, by helping them successfully implement “Configuration Management” systems by providing the following services:

• Level III NDT Inspection
• Quality System Procedure Development
• Technical Repair Procedures for Mechanical Systems
• Training and Development of “Lost Tribal Knowledge” in Industrial Manufacturing
• Corporate Training
• Welding Procedures and Training
• Non-Destructive Test Inspector Training and Certification

Sorrentino’s training methods are consistent with:

• ISO 9001:2000 International Standard
• AS 9100 Rev. B Aerospace Standard
• ISO 13485 Medical Device Standard
• EN 46001 European Standard for Medical Devices
• CMM Capability Maturity Model (combined SW-CMM, EIA/IS 731 and IPD-CMM v0.98 into a single framework)
• CMMI Capability Maturity Model Integration (Software Engineering Institute (SEI) needed to incorporate ISO/IEC 15504 into the CMMI Framework)
• Disaster Preparedness
• Homeland Security
• Welding & Metal Fabrication
• Repair & Overhaul
• NDT Inspection Methods
• Statistical Process Control
• Environmental, Health & Safety
• Gemba Kaizen
• Lean Thinking
• Kanban
• PDCA
• TAKT
• Six Sigma techniques